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I wish my picture did this dessert better service. I had to make do with the remnants of the bottom of the bowl because it got eaten so fast. Remnants don’t ever make for wonderful pictures, but they do say a lot about how well people like your dish! So, I’ll count the fact that I didn’t have much to work with, a definite win. Make this. Hide in a closet. Don’t share. 🙂

Whisk pudding packet, 1/2 cup milk, and cool whip together until well combined. Chop up apples and Snickers into bite size pieces, and combine with pudding mixture. Place in large serving bowl, and drizzle with caramel topping. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

I will never be a truly successful blogger. Want to know why? Because I get all excited about my blog for about 6 months…then I get lazy. Or busy. Or both. And my poor blog suffers. However! If you stick with me, I promise that I will get to the ever-growing list of recipes. Promise.

Anyone else have zucchini coming out their ears from their over-successful garden? Yeah…me either. We actually have a ton of tomatoes this year (the ironic thing being, I’m the only one in my entire house that eats them) but our zucchini never made it. I think there’s something wrong with us. All of our neighbors got a ton! I’ll trade a few of my tomatoes so I can make these. 🙂 My sister passed this batch along and they look so good!!! (it’s times like these that you curse the fact that your sibling lives clear across the country and you can’t skip over to have a taste)

Just spent the last 2 weeks slaving over nine, rather complicated, Shakespearean costumes. Loved it…but I almost went insane. As did my puppy, who was abandoned outside the whole time because I simply could not sew and watch his every move at the same time (he’s a chewer). But don’t you worry, he was able to find ample entertainment. Our drip system will have to be replaced and a few plants have now been replanted about 10 times each. Not sure my husband is happy that I sacrificed the back yard :), but hopefully he’ll forgive the dog…and me.

Here’s my peace offering:

Ingredients:

14 full graham crackers

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

one batch of your favorite brownie recipe (boxed or homemade, make as directed but do not bake)

2 cups mini marshmallows

1 cup chocolate chips

First make the graham cracker crust. Put 10 of the graham cracker and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs. Add butter and mix until combined. Press into the bottom of a 9×12 pan and bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes until lightly golden. Remove from over and let cool for 10 minutes.

Pour on the brownie batter and cook for another 20-25 minutes until almost set.

While baking, crush the remaining graham crackers by hand and combine with marshmallows and chocolate chips. Scatter mix over the brownies and cook for 5-8 minutes until marshmallows are melted and slightly toasted.

I’ve got 2 versions of this scrumptious dessert (I use the term ‘dessert’ very loosely, because I eat it for every meal until its gone). One is a little more complex and takes a few extra ingredients – but it’s totally worth it. However, there are days where I just don’t have half of that stuff 🙂 so I have the cheater version too. But the cheater version is almost just as good! Only the teeniest, tiniest of difference (which means that I make the cheater version more often :)). If mangoes are out of season, you can substitute with bananas and/or pineapples.

Soak the sweet rice in 1 cup of water for 20 minutes, up to 1 hour. When done soaking, add 3/4 cup more water, plus 1/4 can coconut milk, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp coconut flavoring, and 1 Tbsp brown sugar. Stir this into the rice. Cook in rice cooker or over stove top.

Sauce:

Warm the rest of the can of coconut milk together with 1/4 cup sugar, pinch of salt, 1 tsp coconut flavoring, and 1 tsp vanilla over medium heat. Add cornstarch mixture (dissolved in water) to the sauce and stir to thicken slightly. As it thickens, turn heat down to low. Remove from heat when thickened. Pour sauce over cooked rice and mix completely. Allow to sit for a few minutes to let the rice absorb the sauce. Serve immediately with sliced mangos.

Cook rice as directed on bag/box (can cook on stove top or in a rice maker). Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine coconut milk, sugar, and salt. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add the hot coconut milk sauce to the cooked rice. Stir until mixed. Slice mangos and top rice. Serve immediately.

I had my doubts about these. Homemade magic shell layer? How well can that turn out…really? Turns out, pretty darn great! I opted to go for the no-dip version, because dipping them was a little tricky and a lota messy (I lack a certain coordination apparently – that and my chocolate must have been a little on the warm side because it was melting my ice cream right off the brownie). So, I drizzled instead. I poured a layer of caramel sauce (I used a jar of caramel ice cream topping) between the brownie and the ice cream layer instead of dipping it as well. This was both good and bad. I liked having everything together without having to worry about double dipping every time I wanted my caramel fix. However, it made the ice cream a little slippery and my layers didn’t want to stay stuck together. I plan on remedying this eventually (I’ll keep you posted if it works…or you try it and let me know ;)). I’m guessing that if I use my thicker homemade caramel instead of the store bought kind, then I think it will serve as a more effective glue between the ice cream and brownies. Darn. I hate having to remake recipes over and over again until I get them right. Especially when they involve brownies and ice cream and caramel. It’s just torture. But, someone has to do it…and eat it…every time. Darn. 🙂

For the brownies, position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides. Lightly grease with cooking spray and set aside.

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for one minute intervals, stirring in between, until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Set the mixture aside until it cools slightly (is warm to the touch not hot). It will look gritty but it will become smooth once the other ingredients are added. Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack and then chill in the refrigerator or freezer until thoroughly cold – this will help the brownies hold up well to the ice cream layer that’s coming.

For the ice cream layer, soften the ice cream to spreading consistency (leaving at room temperature for 15-20 minutes should do the trick), then spread an even layer across the chilled brownies. The ice cream layer should be about an inch thick. Put the pan in the freezer until very firm (1-2 hours).

For the magic shell, in a microwave-safe bowl, combine the coconut oil and chocolate chips. It helps if the bowl is more tall than wide so that when you dip the bars, the chocolate mixture is deep and not super shallow. Microwave for one minute intervals at 50% power until the chocolate is melted. Stir the mixture until it is smooth. It will be fairly runny.

Remove the pan of brownies from the freezer. Gently lift the foil handles and remove the ice cream layered brownies from the pan. Cut the browines in half. Then, working with one half at a time (you might want to return the other half to the freezer if your kitchen is overly warm), cut rectangle into long, thin bars, about 1-inch by 4-inches. You should end up with 8 or so bars per half. Repeat with the remaining half. It is best to put all the cut bars onto a tray or plate and keep them in the refrigerator while dipping so they stay as cold as possible.

Place a baking rack over a sheet of parchment paper or waxed paper or even aluminum foil (to help with cleanup). Working one-by-one, gently hold the ice cream bar at the base of the brownie and dip it quickly into the chocolate shell mixture (tilt the bowl to help deepen the chocolate for easier dipping) until completely coated and place on the baking rack. Your hands will get messy but I promise it’s worth it! Repeat the dipping process with each bar. After I dipped about 5-7 bars and the chocolate shell had hardened (it sets up very quickly, especially if your ice cream and brownie is very cold), I gently removed them from the cooling rack and put them in the freezer so the ice cream didn’t melt and kept dipping the other bars that were waiting in the freezer.

Make note that the chocolate shell mixture will want to stick to the baking rack so pry the eskimo bars carefully off the baking rack so the chocolate shell doesn’t crack as you separate them from where the chocolate has hardened to the rack.

When ready to serve, remove the eskimo bars from the freezer and let them sit at room temperature for 5-7 minutes. Warm the caramel sauce until it is runny and slightly warm but not overly hot (you don’t want any burned fingers).

My husband came upstairs and said, “Whatever that is that you made – it actually tastes really good.” To some, this may seem a little…snarky? But coming from my husband – a man who’s dessert intake in strictly limited to rice crispy treats and brownies – it was a huge compliment. He ate one of my desserts, of his own free will, and he liked it.

These turned out a little more cake-y than sugar cookie-y for me…it was my first try and I very well could have mixed them funny (I think I forgot to press the batter into the pan) – but regardless, they were really good. Definitely a repeat!

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 1/2 Tbsp powdered milk

10 Tbsp unsalted butter, softenend

2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

3 Tbsp sour cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 oz cream cheese, softened

6 Tbsp salted butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 – 3 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and powdered milk for 30 seconds, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl occasionally. Add in eggs one at time mixing until combined after each addition. Blend in sour cream and vanilla. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Butter and 13 by 9-inch baking dish, then with buttered hands gently press and spread cookie dough into an even layer in dish. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 17 – 21 minutes. Allow to cool completely then frost with cream cheese frosting. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

For the cream cheese frosting:

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together cream cheese and butter until pale and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides and bottom of bowl. Stir in vanilla. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in powdered sugar and continue to mix until fluffy.

This could probably be considered a guest blog post…considering the fact that I didn’t make this one, nor have I ever. But! I don’t always have an excuse to make big desserts (or I’ll end up eating the whole thing by myself or throwing half of it out), so I have to take advantage of when other people do. 😉 My sister, who’s cookbooks are still packed away from her move, called for the recipe and I gave it to her…on one condition. She had to take pictures. Lucky for us both, she complied. It’s fitting that she made this one since she introduced me to it last Thanksgiving. I’m not always a huge fan of gelatin – flash back to one fateful day at Chuck-a-rama, where a little version of me saw the jello bar…that glorious jello bar, with all those different, shiny flavors…and then my mom told me that I had to finish all the jello I heaped on my plate before I could have ice cream. I tried, I really did. That ended with me sitting by the toilet in the restaurant bathroom. I never did puke, but I came pretty darn close. I wanted that ice cream so bad and I never did get some. I think my mom would have taken pity on me for the effort that I applied to that mountain of jello, but I couldn’t stomach anything afterwards – not even ice cream. It ruined my taste for gelatin for a long while, but I was converted back with this dessert. The pretzels, as out of place as they may seem in a gelatin dish, give that salty-sweet taste and a little bit of a crunch = yum. Someday I may even make myself!

Crust:

2 1/2 cups crushed pretzels

3/4 c sugar

1.2 c melted butter

Crush pretzels. Set aside 1 cup pretzel crumbs for topping. Combine the rest of the crumbs with butter and sugar. Press into 9×13 baking dish. Bake at 400^F for 7 minutes. Cool.

Filling:

2 8 oz pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 12 oz tub cool whip

Whip together cream cheese and sugar. Fold in cool whip. Pour on top of cooled crust. Refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Prepare Danish Dessert or Jello as directed. Drain syrup off thawed fruit and add fruit to Danish mixture. Stir together. Spread on top of cream cheese layer and refrigerate until set. Sprinkle 1 cup crushed pretzels on top when ready to serve.